Cabinet approves revision of the Agreement between India and Qatar for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income

Dated: 21.03.2018

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for revision of the Agreement betweenIndia and Qatar for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

The existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Qatar was signed on 7thApril, 1999 and came into force on 15thJanuary, 2000.The revised DTAA updates the provisions for exchange of information to latest standard, includes Limitation of Benefits provision to prevent treaty shopping and aligns other provisions with India's recent treaties. The revised DTAA meets the minimum standards on treaty abuse under Action 6 and Mutual Agreement Procedure under Action 14 of G-20 OECD Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, in which India participated on an equal footing.

Release ID: 1525676

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Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 21st March, 2018.

PRESS RELEASE

Stakeholder engagement by the Task Force drafting the new Direct Tax Law A Task Force has been constituted to review the Income - tax Act, 1961 and to  draft a new Direct Tax Law in consonance with the economic needs of the country.

In  this  endeavour  of drafting  the  new  tax  law, it  is  imperative  to  engage  with stakeholders and general public. Accordingly, suggestions and feedback are invited from  stakeholders  and  general  public  in  the  format  provided  on  the  departmental website www.incometaxindia.gov.in

The format  can  be  downloaded  from the  website and suggestions/  feedback may be sent through e-mail at rewriting - itact@gov.in latest by 2nd April, 2018.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

Task Force to draft a New Direct Tax Law

(Suggestions and Feedback from Stakeholders and General Public Invited)

General Information

(Optional)

Name
Address
Status (Individual/ HUF/ Firm/ Company/ Trust/ AOP/ BOI)
e-mail
Contact Number

Questionnaire

S. No.	Issue	Response	Comments/ Suggestions (if any)
A	Filing of return of income
A.1	Whether you could fill return forms ITR-1 (Sahaj)/ ITR-2 for non-business taxpayers without any help from a professional/ Tax Return preparer?	Yes/ No/ NA
A.2	Do you face any difficulty in e-filing of the return of income (ITR 1 to 7)?	Yes/ No/ NA
A.3	Do you have any suggestion regarding adding a new category or any further information in the IT Return?	Yes/ No/ NA
A.4	Should exempt income be reported separately in the IT Return?	Yes/ No/ NA
B	Tax Credit
B.1	Whether any issues are being faced in e-filing of the TDS returns?	Yes/ No/ NA
B.2	Whether certificates under section 197 for nil/ lower deduction of tax at source are being timely issued?	Yes/ No/ NA
B.3	Whether your tax credit is reflected correctly in Form 26AS? What are your suggestions to tackle the mismatch, if any?	Yes/ No/ NA
C	Processing/ Scrutiny of return
C.1	Are you satisfied with present system of centralised processing of return in terms of its time and online communication with the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC)?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.2	Are your refunds being processed timely and correctly?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.3	Do you feel that an appropriate show cause is being issued by the Assessing Officer (AO) before making any addition in the assessment?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.4	Do you feel that reasonable opportunity in terms of time is being provided to respond to the show cause notices proposing the additions, if any?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.5	Do you feel that the system of approval of order by the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) has worked well to avoid high pitched assessment? If not, please state the problems and provide suggestions to improve the same.	Yes/ No/ NA
C.6	Do you feel that rectification applications are being disposed off within the prescribed time of six months?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.7	Do you feel that the e-assessment process will be helpful in improving transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the tax administration?	Yes/ No/ NA
C.8	Do you feel that refunds in scrutiny assessments are being computed and received timely?	Yes/ No/ NA
D	Litigation and recovery of disputed tax demand
D.1	Do you think that there should be a strong Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism for reaching effective resolutions?	Yes/ No/ NA
D.2	Do you feel the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) is effective, quick and transparent?	Yes/ No/ NA
D.3	Do you feel that appeals are being disposed off by the Commissioner of Income tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] in time?	Yes/ No/ NA
D.4	Do you think that specifying percentage of demand to be paid (20%) before disposal of appeal by CIT(A) has curtailed the arbitrariness and streamlined the process for collection of demand?	Yes/ No/ NA
D.5	Do you feel that the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) forum should be available to all the assessees (residents and non-residents) for determining the tax liability upfront on complex transactions?	Yes/ No/ NA
D.6	What are your views on the working of Income Tax Settlement Commission (ITSC)?	-----
D.7	What are your views on the working of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)?	-----
E	Penalty and Prosecution
E.1	What are your views on levy of penalties for various defaults under the Income-tax Act, 1961?	-----
E.2	At what stage [Assessment/ 1st Appeal/ 2nd Appeal] should the penalty for tax evasion be levied?	-----
E.3	Do you feel that prosecution for TDS is being launched in an appropriate manner?	Yes/ No/ NA
E.4	Whether present system of compounding of alleged offence has worked well?	Yes/ No/ NA
F	Any Other Suggestions

 

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 19th March, 2018.

PRESS RELEASE

India and Hong Kong sign Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)

On 19.03.2018, Government of India and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of People’s Republic of China have signed an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income. In so far as India is concerned, the Central Government is authorized under Section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 to enter into an Agreement with a foreign country or specified territory for avoidance of double taxation of income, for exchange of information for the prevention of evasion or avoidance of income tax chargeable under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Agreement will stimulate flow of investment, technology and personnel from India to HKSAR & vice versa, prevent double taxation and provide for exchange of information between the two Contracting Parties. It will improve transparency in tax matters and will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance. The Agreement is on similar lines as entered into by India with other countries.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax (Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT.

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 22nd February, 2018.

PRESS RELEASE

Revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Kenya notified

The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Kenya was signed and notified in 1985. Subsequently, the DTAA was renegotiated and a revised DTAA was signed between both countries on 11th July, 2016. The revised DTAA has been notified in the Official Gazette on 19th February, 2018.

Some of the key features of the revised DTAA are highlighted as under:

i. In order to promote cross border flow of investments and technology, the revised DTAA provides for reduction in withholding tax rates from 15% to 10% on dividends, from 15% to 10% on interest, from 20% to 10% on royalties and from 17.5% to 10% on fees for management, professional and technical services.

ii. The revised DTAA provides for a new Article on Limitation of Benefits to allow treaty benefits to bonafide residents of both countries, to combat treaty abuse by third country residents and to allow application of domestic law to prevent tax avoidance or evasion.

iii. The Article on Exchange of Information has been updated to the latest international standard to provide for exchange of information, including banking information for tax purposes, to the widest possible extent.

iv. A new Article on Assistance in Collection of Taxes has also been provided in the revised treaty which will enable assistance in collection of tax revenue claims between both countries.

The revised DTAA will improve transparency in tax matters, help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance, remove double taxation and will stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between India and Kenya.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax (Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT.